Latest Deals

The deal represents the first major financial outlay by Novo’s new CEO Mike Doustdar, who joined the company in August 2025. Credit: Kittyfly/Shutterstock.com

Novo Nordisk has agreed to buy Akero Therapeutics in a deal rising to a potential $5.2bn. Novo will pay Akero $54 per share in cash, which represents a premium of around 16% to Akero stock’s last close of $46.49 on 8 October. Novo will also pay an additional $6 per share upon US approval of Akero’s lead product candidate, efruxifermin, for treatment of compensated cirrhosis due to metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis by mid-2031.

Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) has agreed to acquire CAR-T specialist Orbital Therapeutics for $1.5bn, adding several RNA-based therapies to the drugmaker’s portfolio. BMS will pay the full amount in cash to buy privately held Orbital, a biotech that is developing in vivo immunotherapies that reprogram T cells to identify and attack.

BioCryst Pharmaceuticals has signed a definitive agreement to buy Astria Therapeutics with a mix of cash and stock transactions. The deal values Astria at an implied $13 per share, culminating in an enterprise value of around $700m. The companies’ boards of directors have unanimously approved the acquisition and the transaction will be finalised in the first quarter of 2026.

Just a year after emerging from stealth with a nearly half a billion dollars, Kailera Therapeutics has reached another financing goal, raising $600m to fund a Phase III trial of its promising weight loss drug. Kailera, one of the industry’s most closely watched private biotechs, secured the funds as part of a Series B financing round led by new investor Bain Capital.